Sentencing China

Thirteen months after convicting him, a Chinese court has sentenced a veteran dissident to four years in prison for circulating a political tract and calling for public mourning of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, his lawyer said Thursday. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday sentenced Jiang Qisheng for the sedition conviction it issued in November 1999, lawyer Mo Shaoping said.

BEIJING - Gu Kailai, wife of a former Politburo member and daughter of a revolutionary general, was given a suspended death sentence Monday for poisoning a British businessman inChina's most politically charged trial since the 1980s. The sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in the city of Hefei, and it confirmed widespread predictions that the court wouldn't dare put to death a member of the "red nobility. " The British Embassy in Beijing, which had sent consular officials to attend the court hearing, released a statement Monday morning saying it had requested that the death penalty not be applied.

The last member of a ring that sent information about sensitive U.S. military technology to China was sentenced Thursday to three years in federal prison. Rebecca Chiu, 65, also agreed to give up her U.S. citizenship. She pleaded guilty in 2007 to acting as an unregistered agent of China. Chiu's husband, Chi Mak, was convicted of conspiring to export U.S. military technology to China and sentenced to 24 years and five months. Mak's brother, Tai Mak, received 10 years for his part in the plot.

A Chinese court sentenced an American linked to the outlawed Falun Gong spiritual movement to three years in prison Friday after he was convicted of sabotaging broadcast facilities, the government said. Charles Li of Menlo Park, Calif., also was ordered deported, the official New China News Agency said. It wasn't immediately clear whether Li would have to serve his sentence before deportation. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing had no immediate comment.

A Chinese dissident has been sentenced to three years in a labor camp because of a letter he wrote to parliament about unemployment, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said Friday. Yang Qinheng, 44, was arrested Feb. 26 and began his sentence the next day, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

In a display of China's determination to fight its growing drug problem, a court Monday convicted two Britons and two Germans on hashish charges and imposed jail sentences of up to 15 years. The 15-year sentence, given to one of the Britons, was one of the harshest China has imposed on a Westerner for any crime short of espionage. The others received sentences of eight to 8 1/2 years. Several people from Hong Kong and Myanmar have been executed on drug charges.

The last member of a ring that sent information about sensitive U.S. military technology to China was sentenced Thursday to three years in federal prison. Rebecca Chiu, 65, also agreed to give up her U.S. citizenship. She pleaded guilty in 2007 to acting as an unregistered agent of China. Chiu's husband, Chi Mak, was convicted of conspiring to export U.S. military technology to China and sentenced to 24 years and five months. Mak's brother, Tai Mak, received 10 years for his part in the plot.

BEIJING - Gu Kailai, wife of a former Politburo member and daughter of a revolutionary general, was given a suspended death sentence Monday for poisoning a British businessman inChina's most politically charged trial since the 1980s. The sentence was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in the city of Hefei, and it confirmed widespread predictions that the court wouldn't dare put to death a member of the "red nobility. " The British Embassy in Beijing, which had sent consular officials to attend the court hearing, released a statement Monday morning saying it had requested that the death penalty not be applied.

An unemployed man charged with killing six Shanghai police officers in a knife attack was sentenced to death Monday, state media reported. However, the 28-year-old seemed to engender as much sympathy as condemnation from many Chinese, who expressed concerns online about police treatment of suspects and the fairness of the legal system. The Shanghai No. 2 People's Intermediate Court found Yang Jia guilty of premeditated murder and ordered the death penalty for the Beijing man, said the official New China News Agency.

The Communist Party's former chief in Shanghai was sentenced Friday to 18 years in prison for graft in a massive pension fund scandal that toppled dozens of officials and businesspeople and exposed some of the corruption behind the development of China's richest and most glamorous city. The official New China News Agency said Chen Liangyu, 61, was convicted of extorting or accepting bribes of more than $340,000 and abusing his position.

Thirteen months after convicting him, a Chinese court has sentenced a veteran dissident to four years in prison for circulating a political tract and calling for public mourning of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, his lawyer said Thursday. The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court on Wednesday sentenced Jiang Qisheng for the sedition conviction it issued in November 1999, lawyer Mo Shaoping said.

A Chinese dissident has been sentenced to three years in a labor camp because of a letter he wrote to parliament about unemployment, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said Friday. Yang Qinheng, 44, was arrested Feb. 26 and began his sentence the next day, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said.

In a display of China's determination to fight its growing drug problem, a court Monday convicted two Britons and two Germans on hashish charges and imposed jail sentences of up to 15 years. The 15-year sentence, given to one of the Britons, was one of the harshest China has imposed on a Westerner for any crime short of espionage. The others received sentences of eight to 8 1/2 years. Several people from Hong Kong and Myanmar have been executed on drug charges.

Wang Dan, the top student leader of China's 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, was sentenced Saturday to four years imprisonment, official Chinese news media reported. The Beijing Intermediate People's Court also imposed a sentence of seven years on veteran activist Ren Wanding, who spoke at the massive Tian An Men Square protests in the spring of 1989 despite having previously endured four years imprisonment for helping lead a late-1970s democracy movement.

Wang Dan, the top student leader of China's 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations, was sentenced Saturday to four years imprisonment, official Chinese news media reported. The Beijing Intermediate People's Court also imposed a sentence of seven years on veteran activist Ren Wanding, who spoke at the massive Tian An Men Square protests in the spring of 1989 despite having previously endured four years imprisonment for helping lead a late-1970s democracy movement.

An unemployed man charged with killing six Shanghai police officers in a knife attack was sentenced to death Monday, state media reported. However, the 28-year-old seemed to engender as much sympathy as condemnation from many Chinese, who expressed concerns online about police treatment of suspects and the fairness of the legal system. The Shanghai No. 2 People's Intermediate Court found Yang Jia guilty of premeditated murder and ordered the death penalty for the Beijing man, said the official New China News Agency.